


growing pains

by Coshledak



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Growing Pains, M/M, Massage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-01
Updated: 2014-07-01
Packaged: 2018-02-07 01:03:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1879146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coshledak/pseuds/Coshledak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Why can’t you get comfortable?”</p>
<p>“If I knew that then I would make it stop and get comfortable,” he said, as if Himuro couldn’t be stupider for his question.</p>
<p>“Well, does anything hurt?”</p>
<p>“My growing pains.”</p>
<p>Himuro blinked. “Your…what?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	growing pains

“Atsushi, is everything alright?”

Himuro sat up in bed, the room already dark after they’d retired for the night. Well, he used the term “retired” loosely, seeing as it had been nearly a half an hour now and he wasn’t sure Atsushi had laid still for more than two consecutive minutes. For someone like Taiga, that wouldn’t be that surprising to him, because sometimes Taiga could be restless and had to toss and turn to find a comfortable spot. But, ever since they’d gotten Atsushi’s bed replaced with one that actually fit him several months ago—the beds in Yosen weren’t long enough for his height—he tended to immediately fall asleep. 

Tonight, though, he kept shifting. The bed wasn’t particularly creaky or anything, but Himuro could hear him rolling around under the blankets. What were originally just long exhales of air, attempting to relax, had turned into frustrated huffs. In the dark, he could see where Atsushi was curled up on his side, bundled up in his blankets to the point Himuro couldn’t see his hair.

“No,” he replied after a second, annoyed. 

Himuro frowned at the unhelpful answer. He could roll over and put his headphones in and ignore him, but he pushed his blankets off of his own legs and slid out of bed to pad across the room instead. “What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well? Is it your stomach again?”

A few weeks ago, Atsushi’s apparently iron stomach had yielded for a 24-hour virus that made him absolutely miserable. He hadn’t been able to eat because nearly everything he wanted to eat made him sick, and he didn’t want to eat the things that didn’t make him sick. Himuro had spent most of the night and day holding his hair back for him while he threw up, giving him cold water, and scavenging for something that Atsushi wouldn’t complain about having to eat. That ended up being crackers, mostly, until the virus, fever, and vomiting passed. 

He’d been worried it would come back again, or, really, that Atsushi would get sick again at all. It was the first time he’d seen him that sick since they’d known each other, and he supposed, like a seed of doubt, it had now taken root in him and he couldn’t let it go completely. He was still worrying. Which was why he reached over the fortress of blanket to feel for Atsushi’s forehead.

“Owch! That’s my eye, Muro-chin,” he snapped, burrowing further in his blankets and reaching out one large hand to swat Himuro’s away. This time, his voice was significantly more muffled, “I don’t have a fever again. I can’t get comfortable. How am I supposed to sleep if I can’t get comfortable?”

Himuro gave up trying to feel his forehead and rested his hand on the pile of blankets. He thought it might have been Atsushi’s arm, but it was honestly too hard to tell. “Why can’t you get comfortable?”

“If I knew _that_ then I would make it stop and get comfortable,” he said, as if Himuro couldn’t be stupider for his question.

“Well, does anything hurt?”

Atsushi stayed quiet for so long that Himuro thought he might have managed to find a comfortable position. But then the behemoth of blankets managed to move, and Atsushi wiggled himself upright like a worm. In the dark, with the faint light leaking through their window from an outside lamp, he could see the mess of purple hair trying to escape from where Atsushi had the blanket pulled over his head. It was hard to distinguish that he even had a face.

“My growing pains.”

Himuro blinked. “Your…what?”

Atsushi sighed dramatically. “My growing pains. I got them in middle school, too, when I started getting bigger and my arms and legs and back and shoulders would hurt. My parents said that they were growing pains because my bones were growing.”

“Oh.” Himuro nodded. “I see. So, where are you having growing pains?”

A few more beats of silence. “My legs.”

“Would a bath or a shower help?”

“I already took one of those. Besides, then my hair will get wet and I hate sleeping on wet hair. It’s itchy.”

“Pain pills?”

“Yuck.”

Himuro sighed. There really weren’t a lot of options for dealing with muscle stiffness, let alone the chance that it went deeper than that. He looked back up at him, “How about I rub Atsushi’s legs until the pain stops and you can fall asleep?”

Silence.

“Okay,” he agreed. “Muro-chin can rub my legs for me.”

“Atsushi,” he scolded.

“It was your idea!”

“ _Atsushi_.”

A long, exaggerated sigh. “Please and thank you, Muro-chin.”

Himuro went back to his bed and grabbed his pillow, tossing it on the floor near Atsushi’s bed so he could sit on it. In the meantime, Atsushi unbundled himself from his blankets a little bit to stretch his legs over the side, though the top half of him stayed in its fortified cocoon. Himuro crossed his legs and pulled Atsushi’s foot into his lap, reaching up to start rubbing his calf. As he did that, Atsushi’s other leg started bouncing slightly, excited.

About halfway up his calf, he looked up. “Is that helping, Atsushi?”

“Mmhm,” he replied, sucking in a huge yawn. He brought a bundle of blankets, folded over his hand, up to rub at his eyes. 

Himuro continued working up his leg, eventually getting to his knee, where he scooted back some to massage the joint and backside. By that point, Atsushi’s other leg seemed to have calmed down a little bit, and he’d yawned a few more times. It was pretty late for them, all things considered.

He finished his task on one leg, pushed it aside, moved the second foot into his lap, and started again. Atsushi fell back on the bed with another yawn, then got quiet.

Himuro paused after a few minutes of realizing that Atsushi’s breathing had slowed somewhat. He blinked up at him, “…Atsushi…? Did you fall asleep?”

There was no answer, and Himuro sat still for a few minutes before trying to stand. It was then, though, that he felt the pressure of Atsushi’s foot pushing down on his folded legs. It wasn’t an accident, as Atsushi yawned and curled over on the bed slightly, not quite sitting up, but enough to look in Himuro’s direction. “I’m not asleep yet, Muro-chin.”

Himuro laughed quietly, “Sorry, sorry. You were so quiet, I thought you’d fallen asleep.”

Tiredly, Atsushi shook his head, and it was really more _wiggling_ than anything else. He flopped back on the bed again and Himuro continued rubbing his calf, making his way up to his knee and then working around the joint. The leg that he’d already massaged was unmoving, stretched out and supported on Atsushi’s heel next to where Himuro sat. He looked comfortable, at least, and he wasn’t squirming around.

“Atsushi?”

No response.

This time he got up, there wasn’t any pressure on his legs, and he moved Atsushi’s foot to the side so he could stand. He leaned over, vaguely able to make out where his closed eyes were in the mess of long, purple hair. He ran his fingers through it, pushing it aside until he could see Atsushi’s face, smiling to himself as slow puffs of air tickled against his wrist. 

It took some coaxing, but he woke Atsushi up enough to help him get his legs back onto the bed so he had a chance of being comfortable in the morning. For all the grumbling and sleepily murmured complaints, he immediately curled up on his side once he was there. His back was back to the room, and his face pressed against the pillow so he could go back to his quiet, slow breathing.

Himuro stood to look at him for a second longer, shaking his head but with a smile before he turned to head back towards his bed.

“…th’nk you…Mur-ch’n…”

He paused for a split second, glancing over his shoulder, before he slid into his own bed, laying down with a smile and curling up towards the wall.

“You’re welcome, Atsushi.”


End file.
